New York Submits 2012 Olympic Bid

By Elio Velez

New York Submits 2012 Olympic Bid By Elio Velez

Olympic Stadium

The New York City Olympic Plan ning Committee officially submitted their bid last Monday to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. The International Olympic Committee will decide on what city will officially host the games by July of 2005.

New York will be competing against international cities such as Havana, Madrid, Moscow, Paris, Istanbul, Leip zig, Ger many and Rio de Janiero. New York was selected last year over San Francisco and Baltimore-Wash ington to be the North American candidate.

Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctor off, who is helping to lead the drive for the 2012 Olympics, is looking forward to hearing the decision. "This is a great race with world-class cities and we look forward with great anticipation... as we strive to make New York’s Olympic dream a reality."

Though New York has never hosted the games, there is no clear-cut assurance that the games will be handed to them. What may hurt the city is a number of factors. Atlanta, in 1996 and Salt Lake City in 2002 were two North American cities that recently hosted the Olympics. The IOC may not want another North American city to host a game since the 2010 winter games will be hosted in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Breezy Point Marina

The 2012 New York bid also may not have the funding for the infrastructure needed to host the games. The construction of the Olympic Stadium above the LIRR rail yards is expected to cost at least $1 billion as well as the creation of new and rehabbed transportation links.

The plans also include for Breezy Point to host sailing races in a new state of the art marina, which will be converted to public use after the conclusion of the games by Gate way Nat ional Park. The mar ina is described as a sweeping, crescent- boardwalk that will link the new marina’s buildings, storage yard, and boat slips.